“How…” Kiersten’s hoarse voice shook. “How in the world do you expect me to answer that?”
My chest ached deep inside like I’d held my breath for too long and my lungs were about to explode. Was she rejecting my proposal?
“I would have married you the second you asked, Wes. Had the doctors said they could only keep you alive for five minutes, I would have spent those five minutes in your arms—loving you. Time is precious—and I want to give you all of mine. So marrying you today? Even if I was in nothing but jeans and a t-shirt. Even if I was running a fever or got hit by a car…I’d do it. I love you. My heart’s been yours since the minute you needed it to beat for you. So Wes…” She cupped my face and peered deep into my eyes.
With one look, she exposed everything I had ever been or would ever be. I stopped breathing.
Then her lips tipped upward in one of her gentle smiles. “My answer’s yes.”
“Really?” I choked and gasped for my next breath. “You mean it? Right now?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Sure. Right now.”
“Oh good.” I smiled, kissing her mouth once… twice, considered a third but spoke instead. “I’m so glad because that would have been super embarrassing.”
Kiersten bit down on her lower lip and pulled back from me. Her gaze searched behind me then behind her.
I looked too. Nothing but swirling fog in both directions.
Those beautiful, accusing eyes returned to me, and she raised one eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“I read so many romance novels someone should seriously cut my balls off and take my man card.”
“Huh?” Kiersten wrinkled her nose.
“You think I don’t notice,” I said, smirking. “But I see what you and your Kindle do at night.” Laughing, I cupped her chin. “Why didn’t you just tell me you wanted me to storm your castle? I would have totally bought a horse.”
Kiersten’s face flushed red.
“And, really, there were so many highlights on that one contemporary romance where the guy was a hockey player that I almost thought about trying out for the NHL.”
Her blush deepened.
“But what really got me,” I whispered, “was that every single one of your quotes…were about true love. About surprises and a lot of them, about being fearless.”
Her eyes smiled. “You taught me that. To be fearless.”
“Yeah, well.” I slowly nudged her off my lap and got to my feet, bringing her with me. “I’m taking a cue from all that advice and all five hundred of those romance books and doing something really scary.”
“Marrying me is scary?”
“Hell, no,” I growled pulling her against my chest, kissing her head, damn just touching her shook my self-control. “But planning an impromptu wedding in front of all your friends and family without telling you? Yeah, it may have freaked me out.”
“What?” Her eyes went were so wide that I was afraid she was going to pass out from the strain. “I’m sorry, impromptu wedding?”
“Surprise?” I lifted her into my arms and carried her into the house.
“But I didn’t see anyone and—”
“Oh, thank God.” The words came out in a rush as Lisa slumped in relief and smiled. “She said yes!” The relief was short-lived, as two seconds later Lisa was running towards us with a hairbrush in one hand and some sort of torture device in the other. “We only have like two hours.”
“Two hours?” Kiersten repeated.
I set her on her feet and kissed her forehead. “See you girls at the ceremony.”
“Ceremony?”
Lisa and I both nodded then shared a high five behind Kiersten’s head.
“But…my aunt and uncle—”
“You think my dad would let me forget about Uncle Jobob? Geez, they’re worse than two old ladies. I’m shocked your uncle kept the secret this long. Now, go get ready. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Reluctantly, I left Kiersten in Lisa’s hands and went outside. Gabe was waiting around the corner in my SUV. When he saw me wave, he drove up and unlocked the doors. “So?”
“She said yes!”
“Thank God,” he grumbled.
I paused in the middle of climbing in and frowned at him. “Did you guys doubt me?”
“Girls are weird.” Gabe lifted his hands into the air. “I think we know this by now.
“True.” I smirked. “Oh, and I’m waiting.”
“Bastard,” Gabe mumbled under his breath then said, “Weston freaking Michels is a badass.”
I cleared my throat. “And?”
“Do we really have to do this?” He groaned.
I crossed my arms.
“And, when the time comes I’m naming my firstborn after him.” His head shook as he fought a smile.
We laughed the entire way to the ceremony location. Gabe said Kiersten would freak out—in a bad way. He said girls needed plans. Taking control from them—especially considering girly things like weddings—was like asking to get your balls chopped off with a rusty knife.
But he didn’t know Kiersten like I did.
And that was okay.
Acknowledgements
First two weeks proceeds going toward non-profit in Uncle Jobob's Honor.
I really, really, need to thank God for all of his many blessings and allowing me to live my dream day in and day out.
When I first started the Ruin series, I had every intention of just writing Wes’s story. Many of you know that I was inspired by my Uncle’s battle with cancer, and in order to deal with all the emotions I was going through decided to not only write a book about it—with him as one of the characters—but donate some of the proceeds toward his medical bills.
Uncle Jobob is now pain free… he passed away this last November and though it was horrible to see him suffer—I’m so relieved that he is now cancer-free. Some of our stories don’t end like Wes’s, but that doesn’t mean we lost the fight with cancer. Regardless of the ending, you still win, because you fought.
With Gabe’s story… I wanted to keep the topic close to home. My Uncle has two daughters, one of them, Kimmy, is mentally handicapped and the sweetest girl you will ever meet! I based Kimmy’s character on her and used part of her story as inspiration to write the rest of the book. I thank my family for allowing me to use real characters to bring the story I had in my head to life.
When I first started writing Toxic, I wasn’t sure which direction I was going to go. I mean, I knew who Gabe was, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to tell his story and actually do it justice. I had this vision in my head, and for some reason, it just wasn’t transferring to the pages. I ended up taking a few weeks off and just praying. I really did. I sat at my computer, cried a bit, and was like WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING!
Eventually, I gave up. I shook my head and said, “Okay, fine. This isn’t working.” I ended up calling my mom in tears—I was so worried about people comparing it to Ruin that I was over-thinking it. But finally it occurred to me. This isn’t about Wes. This is about Gabe. To even make it about Wes would be unfair to all the characters, which is why I wrote the novella, Fearless. I knew some of you wanted to see more details of Wes’s and Kiersten’s life, so I wrote Fearless for you guys. ;) Well, and for myself, because I’m selfish like that and I want to know what happens with their story too!
Thank you so much for reading and for reviewing. Know that I do truly read every review you guys post as well as every Facebook comment, Tweet, email—just know it’s so so appreciated, and I love the feedback guys!
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Rachel Van Dyken, Toxic
(Series: Ruin # 2)
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